Students from the Ellenville Central School District were presented with
certificates and monetary prizes for their participation in the Ellenville NAACP’s annual Black History Month Contest during an awards ceremony that was held at the Junior/Senior High School on March 5.
This year’s contestants presented speeches from African Americans they found inspiring. Fourteen students participated and chose a variety of speakers, including Maya Angelou, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Barack Obama, and many more. A panel of judges, which included Ellenville staff, Board of Education members, and two students, evaluated the contest participants on their poise, engagement of audience, voice, and diction during their speeches. Finalists from each age category battled it out in a final round.
All contestants were given certificates for their participation, and awards were given in three categories: Grades 1-3, Grades 4-6, and Grades 7-8. First-place winners were awarded $50 each, while second-place winners earned $25 prizes. Winners in the Grades 1-3 category were Alfonsina Nunes Galindo (Grade 2), who won first place, and Violet Kentop (Grade 3), who earned second place. For the Grades 4-6 category, Messiah Forbes (Grade 5) received first place, and Shazia Zaara (Grade 6) won second place. In the Grades 7-8 category Maegan Wright (Grade 8) was awarded first place, and William Turner (Grade 8) was awarded second place. The Art Award was given to Shazia Zaara.
Alfonsina chose to deliver a short speech from Dr. Angelou titled “Be a Rainbow in Somebody Else’s Cloud,” Messiah chose to deliver the 2023 Juneteenth message from Congresswoman Alma Adams (D-North Carolina), and Maegan chose to deliver activist Fannie Lou Hamer’s speech before Congress about voter registration in 1964. Each of the young orators gave impassioned speeches, and used emphatic gestures while maintaining eye contact with the audience. All received resounding applause.
Ellenville NAACP Treasurer Georgeanna “Gammy” Singer praised the students
who participated in the contest, saying, “It is encouraging to see the wide participation from the many students who enter the Black History Month Contest every year, and we are grateful to the teachers and administrators who support them.”